A Story of Sorts
by fossilized fangirls
Summary: There was once eight teens with nothing in common except a strange power and a need for answers. But the gang gets more than they bargained for when evil forces decide that the teens' ability does more than it says on the tin. All sorts of bad things happen behind the scenes. But so do beautiful things, and the gang learns that maybe they've got something else in common—friendship.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yay, a story! But it ain't a normal story - it's a collab between Magma Red, DunalN2, Chidori Minami, and yours truly, the eternally terrible reegreeg!**

**So I think you read the summary, and with that belief firmly stuck inside my head I'm not saying anything. Nobody owns FF, by the way. But we all own our respective characters and the AU's mostly mine.**

**_- reegreeg_**

* * *

Terra Lark shifted uncomfortably on the balls of her moccasin-clad feet, waiting impatiently for night to fall and the last of her fellow tribespeople to go to sleep. The sun had long since gone down, but fingers of red and purple were still reaching slowly across the twilit sky and only a few weakly flickering stars were out. There would be no moon that night, which was both good and bad for the thirteen-year-old and her plans: bad because she wouldn't be able to see where she was going but good because nobody else could, either.

She considered (for the millionth time) writing a note of some sorts to her family, but what was there to write? "Dear mother and father. I'm leaving and never coming back, even though that's punishable by death. Love, your daughter Terra. PS: I'll be staying in Ceratopia. Come and visit one day!"

But she settled for hoisting her leather knapsack higher on her shoulders and giving her dog, Chuchip, a sad last scratch behind the ears before she left. She did everything she could not to cry, looking at who had been her only friend for the last few years, but a sob rose in her throat anyway. Technically, Chuchip was merely a hunting partner, but he meant so much more to her than that. Plus, the greyhound-husky-wild dog mix was super cute, and that had to count for something. At least it did in her teenage-girl mind.

_And why are you so depressed? _asked Chuchip. She knew it was simply a fact of life, but sometimes Terra still found it weird that the Khans could talk to animals; just like they could talk to humans.

(But only she could talk to dinosaurs.)

"Oh, Chuchip! You're awake!" she whispered, feigning surprise.

_No really._

"Boo," she went on, with a mask of fake emotions still plastered on her face. "You're so boring."

_Terra, I've known you for five years. Plus, you're a terrible liar. Now, tell me—what in the world is going on?_

Terra sighed softly, a few small tears glistening in the corners of her leaf green eyes. "I'm running away, smarty-pants. And I can't bring you."

_Why not?_

"Because I'm gonna be as discreet as possible? Besides, how could I bring a hunting dog to a city like Ceratopia?"

Chuchip stood up, looked the small girl in the eye (which he was almost large enough to do without tilting his head), and said, _You'll pretend I'm a normal dog, that's what. You remember all the people with dogs on strings-_

"Leashes."

_Leashes, strings, whatever. Point is, lots of people had a dog, and now you can pretend to be just like them. It'll be fun. Anyway, nobody else ever takes me out hunting. I'm _your _dog, remember? Face it, I'm coming with you._

Terra bit her lip and smiled at her hunting companion ruefully. "Fine."

_Fine is correct, sister._

She crawled inside her teepee and rooted around as quietly as she could in her drawer for Chuchip's collar, favorite deerskin ball, and a pouch of dried meat strips. Her fingers brushed the cold bone of a dinosaur whistle and she turned to her dog, holding the object up. "You know," she said, "since I'm bringing you, so you think I should bring an Ankylosaurus, as well?"

_How else were you planning it get to Ceratopia? By_ walking_?_

"Exactly." Terra crawled back outside and blew on the whistle lightly, her delicate ears easily catching the ultra-high-frequency chirp it emitted. Her eyes widened and she whipped her head around to see if she'd woken anyone up, but it seemed the rest of the Khans and their heightened senses had either decided it was a bird or something, or had ignored the whistle entirely.

She and Chuchip stood perfectly still for a moment, but when nothing happened, she took a risk and puffed on the whistle again, cringing upon hearing the shrill sound. A great armored dinosaur lumbered out of the forest sleepily.

_What do you want? _grumbled the Ankylosaurus.

"I wanna get outta here," said Terra, "and you're gonna be my ride."

_Where to?_

Terra took a final look around the Khan camp, at the teepees in the clearing, at the hunting grounds and the forest, and at all the animals and dinosaurs and where she knew the people who had shunned her all her life lay. Anger bubbled up inside her, mixing with the sadness and making her want to scream.

"Ceratopia," she finally told the dinosaur. "And sweetie, make it snappy."

* * *

Meanwhile...

* * *

A boy sat in a passenger car of a train, looking out the window. His long, spiky, dark grey hair was covered by a deep blue driver's cap, and he wore a light, summer coat that was grey, buttoned up to his neck and stretching down to his knees, covering all but the legs of his dark grey cargo pants and boots, which were grey as well, with black buckles on them. A duffle bag sat at his feet, backpack next to him, and suitcase stored above.

He stared out the window with a blank look on his face, the darkening sky reflecting off a lake, resulting in a breath-taking sight, but his deep, sapphire blue eyes had a hint of sadness. This was one of the few times he had ever left home, and he was unsure of how long he'd be away. The sight of his parents standing at the station, waving good-bye sat at the front of his mind.

_BING!-BONG!-BING!_

"Attention all passengers, we will be arriving at Ceratopia Station tomorrow morning. Please enjoy the rest of your trip."

_BING!-BONG!-BING!_

He blinked, then stood, putting his duffle bag and backpack above with his suitcase, then laid down on the seat he had been sitting in. It was slightly uncomfortable, due to his unusually tall height, but he'd manage.

_'Red, how much longer do I have to ride like this?'_

_'Until we arrive at the station tomorrow...Sorry. The conductor said you had to ride in the cargo car. I asked if you wanted to shrink down and let me carry you in a second duffle bag, but remember? You said no.'_

_'Alright, alright. But stop being so gloomy! Ceratopia! Not everyday you get to visit a place like that!'_

_'Yeah, but still. I miss Mama and Papa.'_

_'Red, you're thirteen. It's time you spread your wings some.'_

_'...Alright.' _He closed his eyes, the rocking of the train lulling him to sleep.

* * *

Also happening at the same time...

* * *

Wind rushed past huge, fire-patterned wings. The beautiful, mesmerizing colors on them simply accented them, and the large, bulky body didn't seem as pleasing to the eye as the dragon's wings.

A horn sat atop her snout, her large yellow eyes trained on the ground, searching for something to snack on, on her flight to... Somewhere.

Using her tailfin as a rudder, she twisted it slightly and went into a lazy glide to the left, following a train in hopes that the noise would startle some animal big enough to fill her stomach. She came up empty yet again.

Stomach still growling, she landed, claws and talons raking the grass and dirt, wings making small flaps to support her until she got her footing. She sniffed the grass for even the smallest shrew or mouse to eat... Nothing had been there since this morning.

Snorting, she left the area in search of a lake for even a small fish. She hadn't eaten a thing for three days and was willing to eat another Dinaurian if she didn't find food soon.

A lake shimmered in the moonlight. Instant food if it had fish. She dove down and snatched the first fish she could get and swallowed it whole. It felt nice to eat something again.

She soon had stuffed herself with fish and a few berries that didn't exactly agree with her, being a carnivore, but she managed. She went into a lazy glide again, staring at the passing train, calculating its destination, and headed there in front of it.

She managed to crawl under the platform that it would end up at and fell asleep silently, wings curled around herself, drifting into a deep sleep.

* * *

Earlier that day...

* * *

_VROOM VROOOM!_

"Alright baby, I'm trusting you ta get me from here ta there, got it?"

An answering _Vrrroooom!_ came from the shiny silver motorcycle with the dark, blood-red accents. The girl sitting on top of it grinned, nodding once before securing her helmet on tightly. She was about nineteen years of age, with flaming hair made up of many shades of red. Her eyes, gleaming from underneath her silver and black helmet, were a murky shade of silver. She pulled her black boot cut jeans down over the tops of her tall 'cow-girl' boots, and zipped up her leather jacket over her black and gray plaid shirt. She pressed her hand to the gun holster looped around her waist, checking that the safety was on.

"Alright! Everythin' in order! Let's do it!" Revving up her motorcycle again, Adira Coleman sped out of the garage of her eldest brother and hit the road.

_"There's a reason I can understand all them dinos...Some big ol' plot Imma part of. Now I just gotta sniff it out, force it inta the open. And it all starts...With Ceratopia." _Adira thought as she weaved between of cars, sliding through with a few close calls. _"Ugh. Stupid death traps...how can people stand ta own 'em? I can hardly stand ta be around 'em!" _Someone blasted their horn at her as she cut between their car and another, and without turning around she gave them a nasty hand sign.

* * *

Also earlier that day...

* * *

_Chain knife, sword, gun, sword, sword, gun, chain fire, book, gun, more chain weapons, more guns, more swords, other books, MORE swords, throwing knives, grappling hook, bows and arrows, cannon, uh...weapons._

Shouldering the pack was a boy with bright blue eyes and blonde hair cut to his ear lobes, with shaggy bangs that covered his forehead. He wore a light blue shirt tied at his side, his shoulders showing, while same color fabric covered the middle of his upper arms. He as well wore a white tank top, dark blue pants, blue belt, black boots with small belts at the top, dark blue bands covered most of his arms, and black fingerless gloves on his hands. His skin was fair and chin pointed.

_Well, I have everything I need. Change of clothes, rations, canteen, and all my weapons. Time to go._

He started down the road, patting the black pouch at his hip.

* * *

Sometime that night...

* * *

"Annnd...there!" Caiden Forrester exclaimed as he tightened the last knot on his bed sheet rope. "I'll show them...Thinking they can control me..." Standing at roughly six feet, with tanned skin, shaggy black hair that hung level with his eyes in front and was shorter on the sides and back, and bright, almost neon, purple eyes, nineteen year old Caiden was by no means normal in any way.

He stood up and walked over to his window, pushing it open all the way and throwing out one end of the bed sheet rope. "Ok...I can do this...I can. I won't die...I hope..." Caiden peeked out of the window and squeaked. "Oh dear dinos...Here goes nothing!" And with that, he jumped.

_"I forgot to tie the other end to something, didn't I?" _THUD! "OWWWW!"

Caiden sat up, rubbing a bump on his head.

"RAWR! YOU HAVE A MESSAGE!" Letting out a sigh, he reached back and grabbed his phone out of his back pocket.

Unlocking it, he stared at the text before shifting his eyes to his sister's window, where she was leaning against the glass laughing so hard there were tears streaming down her face.

_"You could have just walked out the front door, idiot. They aren't home." _

* * *

The next morning...

* * *

The train jerked to a halt, Red falling off his seat to the floor.

_BING!-BONG!-BING!_

"Attention passengers, we have arrived at Ceratopia Station. Please exit the train in an orderly fashion, and do not forget your luggage. Have a nice day!"

_BING!-BONG!-BING!_

_'Ow.'_ Red thought, standing up and stretching, then twisting sideways, making his spine crack and fell relieved. He then reached above and took down his belongings, then picking up his duffle bag and exiting the train. He walked back, coming to the cargo car, where people were gathered around. Red made his way through the crowd, repeating 'excuse me, pardon me,' until he got to what everyone was looking at: two dinosaur-like creatures. They turned white, disappearing, medals in their place. Red picked them up, pocketing them, then walking back through the crowd. Everyone watched as he walked, which was easy since he was taller than everyone.

* * *

The commotion of the train awoke the Dinaurian sleeping beneath the station platform and yawned. She instantly smelled something interesting to her. She could see it with her nose, even though her eyes were closed. Tall, grey hair, a duffle bag with a Vivosuar in it. And food. Something she could sink her teeth into.

Following the scent, she tracked the mysterious human she thought was another animal to be eaten and digested. Her forepaw snapped a twig in half, giving away her position.

Thinking fast, she attacked her prey, tackling it to the ground and fitting her jaws around its head so she could bite it off, awaiting the fresh taste of blood and meat.

* * *

Red had no idea what had attacked him and had no desire to, as he struck his fist to its throat and crashed his knee into the belly, then using his other leg to kick it off. He rolled to his stomach and grabbed his suit case, running as fast as his legs allowed. Hopefully, he would put enough distance between himself and what ever that was before it could breath properly.

* * *

Thanks to her armoured hide and throat, she basically felt nothing. But the retaliation caught her off guard and SERIOUSLY ticked her off.

She gave chase, stalking the human at a very slow pace, chasing him to a nice little edge where he could not escape.

Once there, she knocked him onto his back and snarled, placing her foot on his chest, killing claw over his throat and digging it in enough to draw just a bit of blood, just enough to choke him. Her prey was now trapped.

She licked her fangs, drooling at the thought of blood in her mouth.

* * *

_WHAT DOES THIS THING WANT WITH ME?! _Red shouts, pain in his neck from the claw piercing it. There was a white flash, a purple armored vivosaur next to him, swinging its tail, striking the creature off him, making it fly a few feet.

_'You okay?' _it asked.

_'Aside from my neck, yeah...' _Red tells him, sitting up, placing his hand over the prick. _'It should heal quick. Mom said I'm a fast_ _healer_.' He heard a roar, making him look back at the creature, which was running toward him, when his vivosaur blasted it with water.

* * *

She screamed as water as sprayed all over her, burning her scales. She spread her wings and folded them around her head to protect it from the lethal spray of frigid water. Once the attack seized, she charged her own attack.

Gathering heat from the city thermals around her, she overcharged her Core Fire and contained said charge, building energy. Eventually, she had too much of it and released it, literally frying everything in a large, flaming sphere that expanded outward from her Core Fire. It did nothing to her, but it instantly turned the trees and concrete walls around her to ashes.

The Vivosaur that had attacked her and kept her from her prey was weakened badly, as it had shielded its master from the full force of the attack at point blank range. She quickly turned and swatted it with her tail, striking it across the face.

_Not so tough after all, little furry scorpion lizard?_ She taunted it, snorting out black ash and smoke. _I thought the blades your protect you, but my teeth can crush you in half! So, unless you wish to be a nice little snack, I suggest you get away from my food right now, or you shall become food yourself._

She bit down on its back and flung it into a tree, making it snap instantly.

No longer having anything between her and dinner, she advanced.

* * *

"Typhoon!" Red yelled, getting mad. "ALRIGHT, what's your problem?! You just attack me out of the blue in the middle of a city for no reason, and know you've hurt Typhoon!" He threw his arms in the air. "Could you AT LEAST tell me _WHY _you're attacking me?!"

* * *

_You are prey. Prey has only one function: To be eaten and digested as swiftly as possible._

Drooling, she spread her colorful wings to try to mesmerize her prey into coming to her. She even made the colors shift and turn, an even more dazzling display.

_Prey is meant to be killed, to be burned, to be eaten. I haven't eaten a decent meal in a long while. A few measly fish and deer. That's all I ate last night. I need something other than minnows to fill my stomach, and bucks get to be tiring when you've had to resort to them for several nights..._

She was almost on top of him, claws twitching in anticipation of the kill.

_I'd say that even the flesh of my pure kind would do..._

* * *

"..." Red stood there, slightly disturbed. "Uh...all...right then, but I'm not the food."

Opening his duffle bag, he took out a sack lunch bag filled with homemade jerky.

"This probably what you're smelling. I've already eaten half, but you can have the rest if you're really hungry."

* * *

She stared intently at the offered gift. The scent was intoxicating, but she didn't know if she really wanted it.

Eventually, she cautiously approached and sniffed. Instantly she snatched it in her teeth and swallowed it whole.

_Is there more? It only just gave satisfaction to me._ She glanced down at the open bag, more smells tempting her to steal it away and eat the bag itself.

* * *

"Sure, you can have all of it if you like." Red told her, holding out the bag. "I know how to make more, so it's no big deal."

* * *

She drooled and swallowed it whole, licking her lips. _More? You can make more?_ She sat down almost like a lost dog, looking hopefully into his eyes with her peircing yellow gaze. _Make more! _She pawed at the ground softly, her claws making gashes in the concrete, licking her teeth.

* * *

"...Uhm..." Red stood there, looking down at the - what he now believed to be - Dinaurian. "Well...I...I'd have to get the ingredients first, and...well, I'm a bit busy right now, looking for the research lab here. Do you know where it is?"

* * *

_Yes! I do! Make more food first, then I tell you._

She licked her fangs, drooling. _Hungry. Haven't eaten in days._

Claws clacking on the ground, she dragged the boy behind her and led him to a small corner store with what she thought would give the necessary ingredients. _This way, then you make me more meat sticks._

* * *

Later _that_ day

* * *

Terra sighed and squirmed, banging her head on the wall.

"Chuchip, remind me to never run away again," she said. "These are the most uncomfortable clothes I've ever had the misfortune of wearing. And what on earth have those people done to my hair?" She grabbed a fistful of her dark hair and waved it around in front of her dog's nose. "It has a stretchy...a stretchy _thing_ in it! And it _hurts_!"

_Well, you look nice, at least._

The brunette stood up in front of the shop window and sized herself up. She supposed she liked the contrast between the off-white of her T-shirt and her light brown skin (and of course the "Save Khan Forests" logo it bore was a win), but she suspected her blue camouflage cargo pants were a bit too large, and her calves were especially itchy where the rough fabric was tucked into her zori boots.

And her hair hurt.

"Right. I look nice. And stuff." She closed a fist around the deerskin pouch on her leather necklace and turned towards her Anklyosaurus. "To somewhere!" she told it, jumping on. It turned its massive head around to glare at her.

_I'm getting sick of your orders,_ it grumbled. _You're in no place to boss me around._

"I am too," she said.

_You're thirteen. I'm over a hundred._

"I'm a _Khan_. You're just a dinosaur." She kicked her steed in its armored side, hurting herself much more than she hurt it. "To somewhere," she told the dinosaur again, with an edge in her voice.

_No._

"Jerkwad," she grumbled. "I'll walk myself."

* * *

_Hm. _Sarid looked up, at the buildings that surrounded him. He now had a blue baseball hat on his head - he had bought it in the store where he had bought the map he held - and was looking for the research lab.

_This is not a good map. _He thought, wadding it up, and tossing it in a trash can as he walked by.

* * *

"Okay," muttered Terra as she, Chuchip, and the Anklyosaurus (who she'd put on Chuchip's leash) walked down the back streets of Ceratopia, "what in the world is that thing?"

She jabbed her finger towards a tall, gray-haired boy (who was _not_ the weird part) and a small fire-patterned _thing_ with large rainbow wings and stripy hair, who were both walking towards a small shop and making idle chitchat about food.

"Do I even want to know?" she went on. "Like, the soothsayer always told me that knowledge was dangerous when it came to demons and things, but..."

_I think you definitely want to know, _said Chuchip._ Maybe you can all be friends._

"Friends," murmured Terra, trying to sound dry and indifferent, but sadness creeping into her voice anyhow. "Who would want to be friends with me?" She stared at the two retreating figures and wrinkled her nose. "Besides," she said loftily, in a much stronger tone, "the ugly one smells funny."

To her dismay, it looked like "the ugly one" heard her, and the two of them whirled around to stare at her.

_Oh boy, _said the Anklyosaurus, _you've done it now, Lark._

"I so have, right?" She cupped her hands around her mouth and called, "That was not a compliment. There is no need to thank me."

Chuchip shook his head at her. _They weren't going to thank you._

* * *

She snorted black smoke, red, lava-patterned scales glowing as anger welled up inside her.

_WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY. _

She snarled, spreading her wings to make herself look bigger, her bright yellow eyes flashing red.

And then the smell of fish caught her attention. A sushi cart went by, and she followed it, attacking the salesman and stealing some of the fish. Eventually she scared the poor man off and feasted on the fish, enjoying every bite. In exactly ten seconds, she had forgotten what she was mad about. All for food.

Once she had her fill, she moved back to her new friend and coughed up half of the very first fish she had downed and offered it to him. In order to prove he would protect her, he would have to eat it.

She left him in search of more food, and her nose lead her back to the one who called her ugly. She instant their eyes met, she hissed, tail thrashing. And then she retreated to her friend, still snarling.

_Go away. I bite you if you not go away. _To prove her threat, she bared her teeth, lava starting to drip from her maw. She awaited an answer from her, growling.

* * *

"Go away?" Terra echoed, blinking slowly. "Excuse me?" She placed her hands on her hips and strode towards the creature (one of the few humanoids on the planet she was sure she was taller than, making her feel slightly better). "Oh," she said, feigning being hurt, "sweetie, I don't think you understand. As a member of the Khan clan, everywhere I go, I face prejudice. People are always saying they don't want 'our filthy kind' spoiling their land and stuff; calling us monkeys or trash or worse. And here you are, not even human and clearly in no place to tell me anything, you're telling me to leave this here curb and...and not even that, you threatened me. Rude! And all because I voiced the honest truth. Like, is it _my_ fault my sense of smell rivals my dog's? Is it _my_ fault you smell like week-old meat? No. No it is not. And so I will not go away." Terra replayed her argument in her head, frowning at its haphazardness. "So there." And with that she plopped down on the curb and stuck her tongue out at the creature.

She was sure she looked very mature.

* * *

She snarled yet again. Leaning forward, she looked almost as if to bite, but decided against it. She turned away instead, but gave a satisfying smack across the face with her tail fin.

_Fine. Stay. See what I care. Not like anyone like me, anyway... _

She huffed and spit magma at the concrete to get out her anger. And then she spat up another fish, nudging it to the stranger.

_Truce? _She tilted her head. She was too tired to even try to lift a claw against her, and her digesting meal weighing her down wasn't going to help her in a fight.

_Not tell you to go away... Not feeling good... __Not eated in a while... _Suddenly her eyes were hopeful. _You has food?_

* * *

Terra stared from the fish to the creature, the fish to the creature. And slowly but surely, she felt itchiness spread over her skin and her tongue begin to gradually swell up in her mouth.

_Oh, telek, _she thought as she doubled over and her vision grew blurry. _Telek, telek, telek._

"No food," she managed to wheeze out before dissolving into a fit of coughing. "Especially not after you slapped me."

* * *

Instantly the child felt horrible and swallowed the offered fish up. She could smell the reaction to it, and if she had not done what she did next, she would have no doubt her new friend would have died.

She took the girl's hand and spat up a bit of the lining from her lung into it. She didn't tell her what it was, but she did tell her to eat it.

_It get rid of the effect. Make you not sick. _

Curled up at her feet, she warmed herself up and purred, trying to make it a bit easier.

* * *

"Ew," mumbled Terra when she began to function again. The sticky substance the creature had made her eat now lined her mouth and made her teeth stick together. Yet her throat was dry, which somehow made her headache worse. "Why was there slime? Or fish?" She looked down at the creature, who was curled up at her feet and purring away, like a cat after it caught itself a pheasant. "What are you doing here? You..._you_ did this! This is your fault! You unbelievable _anụọhịa_!"

* * *

Instantly she was on her feet. Actually, she was on the roof of the nearest building, looking absolutely terrified.

_Tried to help! Didn't mean it! Promise! Didn't mean it!_ She tried to dig through the tiles on the roof, but her claws couldn't find a good catch, so she jumped down and dug into the concrete. Her tail was the last thing going into the ground, before she started to bury herself. Digging even deeper, she gathered heat from the ground, and the upcoming magma, and overheated her Core Fire yet again.

A mental monster suddenly consumed her, forcing her out of control of her own body. Her once bright yellow eyes turned a deep, blood red, and she felt much more powerful. She resurfaced, ready to kill whatever had threatened her.

Beams of red light searched for her assailant, searched for blood and flesh.

Her eyes landed on the girl, and she instantly filled with hate; her necklace glowed as she activated it telekinetically. Small, frail tail became a thick wrecking ball of muscle. Her once small killing claws became twice their size, her arms bulged in thick muscle, mouth becoming lethal jaws. Her horn was now a spear.

Once in Battle Form, she absorbed even more heat from the thermals around her, giant, colorful wings spreading to confuse her new prey.

* * *

Terra instinctively dove to the ground to avoid falling victim to the creature's wings, which probably had some sort of hypnotizing powers (because in her world, everything did).The creature's tail, which had grown, like, a million times in size, fell in her general direction and she rolled aside and into the street, then darted between the dragon-girl's legs. Years of beating the daylights out of things larger than her had taught her that nobody ever really attacked their own feet.

"Help me, you useless kūṇṭillāta nattai!" she screeched to the gray-haired boy, who stood still, looking dumbstruck. "This omugọ _ḍāyana_ is trying to _kill_ me!"

* * *

"Ah...uhm..." Red's mind raced, when he ran over and jumped in front of the large creature - which he was positive was a Dinaurian now. "You want more of that food? Stop attacking! And if this doesn't work, I'll release my water-based team! I don't want to hurt anyone, but you can't attack people out of nowhere!"

* * *

She turned to him, blood red eyes focused.

_Food will convince my other, but it will not soothe a Xinorak!_ She was now attempting to eat him instead.

* * *

Gliding over city thermals, wind ruffling purple feathers, and long spines along the back slicing through the wind.

And then his sister below, trying to eat a human.

He rolled his eyes, gliding closer to the ground. He started to sing, the Xinorak in her head falling to sleep into her head.

* * *

Feeling tired now, she started to hum, leaning forward, the red glow to her eyes fading rapidly.

* * *

Looking around helplessly, breathing ragged and body shaking, Terra scrambled backwards, clinging to her dinosaur. "What in the world is going on?" she demanded.

* * *

He swooped down and landed on a rooftop, still singing to the Xinorak to calm it. The older stumbled back, talons scratching up the pavement, unable to keep her balance.

Her tail swept just over the girl's head. A foot lower and she wouldn't have one.

Now fast asleep, she leaned back, about to crush the Ankylosaurus.

* * *

_Misconducts... _Sarid thought to himself, scowling slightly at the fight he had watched. Seeing at the large creature was about to land on a smaller one, he sighed and pulled a Sun Fury from his pack. From observation, the fire-based chain weapon would have no effect on the larger creature.

Sarid threw the end at the creature, which wrapped around it neatly, then pulled as hard as possible, making it fall next to the smaller creature, not harming a soul.

_Impetuous ignoramuses._

* * *

"Telek," Terra muttered, surveying the damage that the dragon-girl-creature-thing had done to the street as she stood up slowly and promptly fell down, feeling dizzy. "Naraka kē bha'irahēkō cha? Luu baidag. Mattu...beṅki." She shook her head, stood up again, and dusted herself off. "Okay, people," she called. "This was all fun, but can anyone tell me where I can find the research lab?"

* * *

"Hey! I'm headed there!" Red replied, his face lighting up. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a map, holding it up. "I know where it is! It's not too far!"

* * *

"Lead the way." Sarid told him, he putting the chain weapon back into his back pack. _Finally, someone who isn't insane.__  
_

* * *

Terra frowned at the blond boy before turning away and facing in the same direction as the gray-haired one.

_I don't like you, blondie, _she thought.

_You don't like anyone, _said the Anklyosaurus.

_Shut up. I do too._

_No you don't._

_Okay, maybe I don't._

* * *

Almost two seconds after the conversation, Dunal was up again, but her eyes were back to their bright yellow color again. She looked up, then jumped onto Red's back, her claws digging into the flesh.

_Going with you!_

* * *

Red yelled in pain, taking off into a panic run, attempting to get the Dinaurian off his back.

* * *

Sarid sighed, before grabbing the grey-headed boy's arm, slipping thick leather pads between the creature and the human, stopping the claws from hurting him anymore.

_I take it back. Everyone here is insane._

* * *

She purred and licked the back of the grey-haired boys' neck, putting a tiny amount of teeth into it, claws digging in deeper.

She looked at the other boy and licked his hand, purring louder.

_Thanku!_

* * *

Red no longer felt pain from the Dinaurian's claws, but the teeth also hurt.

"Please stop biting me..." He then remembered the lab. "Follow me to the lab!"

* * *

Sarid said nothing, just stared at the creature that licked his hand.

He blinked, then followed the grey-haired boy down the side walk.

* * *

She licked Red again, still purring.

_Friend take me to lab?_

* * *

"YES!" He told the Dinaurian. "I'm Red by the way."

* * *

She crawled up his neck and into his hair, disappearing into it, then her head popped out of the front of the wild mane. She looked into his eyes, tongue hanging out of her mouth.

_I'm Dunal. Dunal Pyro Nichs. Hungry._

* * *

"I can make some more of that jerky later." Red tells her.

* * *

She bit his nose and retreated into his hair._ Feed NOW._

* * *

"We have to get to the lab." Red tells her, rubbing his nose. "Then I can make the food. You need to learn to wait."

* * *

_Not wait. Hungry NOW! _She pulled a small piece of his hair as hard as she could, tearing out a small amount of grey hairs._ FEED!_

* * *

_"OW!"_ Red yelled, dropping his suitcase and pulling Dunal from his hair. "Don't do that!"

* * *

_I should have stayed at the island._ Sarid thought, pulling an armored glove on, then taking the creature from Red.

"He said no, and to wait. Stop acting like a spoiled child."

* * *

She bit her captor and tried to slash him with her killing claws. _Let go!_ Another bite, then she absorbed the thermals and heated up her body. She heated up her body to melt the gloves.

* * *

"Your tantrum won't work." Sarid told Dunal, his voice level. "These are Molten Gauntlets. Insulated to protect my flesh, and armored to withstand heat."

* * *

She growled and spat into his eyes, blinding him with the chemical reaction of her saliva and cleaning fluid in his eyes. _Not like you. Like Red more._ She tried to squirm free of his grasp, wings beating into his face to make it harder for him to hold onto her.

* * *

Sarid stood there, using his free hand to wipe his eye.

* * *

"A few more blocks and we'll arrive at the lab." Red told everyone, having picked up his suit case and walking again.

* * *

_That not do anything. You blind it out now._ She stuck out her tongue and finally got out of his grasp, flying back onto Red's back, sharp little claws digging in.

* * *

Red kept walking, the leather on his back preventing the claws from hurting him, while Sarid, who closed his eyes at the last minute, kept following him.

* * *

She purred now, drooling on his shoulder. Her stomach growled loudly, and she nibbled idly on his shirt.

* * *

For once in her life, Terra was nearly silent as she followed her newfound gang of idiots through the streets. It wasn't that she didn't have anything to say – on the contrary, she had many things to say, not a single one of them pleasant – it was just that she really rather hated her newfound gang of idiots, especially the way the reminded her of home.

The blond-haired one was as June Wren-like as they came, she figured, even though June Wren was a girl, because they both had an air of superiority about them and vast vocabularies of boringness. That reasoning would make the dragon-girl-creature-thing a bit like her ex-friend Indigo's little sister Acacia, who always acted childish and simple one second and spitting mad the next, with no warning signs or indications of her feelings. And the gray-haired boy was probably a Wynter Towhee deep down inside, under his vaguely-Wynter-esque demeanor. A stupid, arrogant, double-crossing turncoat, that's what they both were; she was sure of it.

Terra didn't like Wynter Towhee.

And she didn't like the gray-haired boy, either.

"Is someone following us?" she asked the animals flanking her after a while, all three of them sniffing the air uncertainly. She didn't get an answer.

"People," she called to her gang of idiots, "it feels...um...do you guys think someone's following us?"

* * *

_Not tell you if I smell something if I an idiot._ She stuck out her tongue and turned away, wings making sure she wasn't seen.

The monster in her mind awoke, but it held back from taking control, which only made her nervous. She would've failed miserably at playing poker with her face. Her claws dug in past the leather and into flesh again, and she buried her face into Red's back, shivering in fright and trying to scare away the monster.

* * *

Red winced some under the pain, but still felt Dunal's shivers. It was probably best to say nothing; he didn't want to upset her.

_'How much farther to the lab?' _Typhoon asked him.

_'Just around this corner.'_ He replied. He didn't know why, but he felt bad inside, as if someone disliked him for some reason.

* * *

_I do feel as though someone is following us. _Sarid thought, putting his hands into his pockets, feeling the shuriken in them. _It's best to stay silent. They'll flee if they know we're aware._

He looked over at the grey-haired boy. He showed concern in his eyes; whether it was what the acrimonious girl said, or for Dunal, he was unsure. Dunal hid behind her wings, which shook ever so slightly - something bothered her.

And then the acrimonious girl. She looked annoyed at all of them, especially at the grey-haired boy, Red.

When this ordeal was over, he was NEVER leaving the island again.

* * *

The creature in her mind now moved closer. She whimpered pathetically in response, though it wasn't meant to be out-loud.

* * *

"_Okaaaaaay_," Terra muttered, jamming her hands in her back pockets and kicking it the ground. "Thanks for all your support, people."

Casting wary glances over her shoulders to make sure there was nobody behind her, she knelt down and placed an ear to the ground, and closed her eyes. The footsteps of the idiots were thunderous and they echoed in her head, but she ignored them. Biting her tongue and sniffing deeply again, she tried to see if she could sense anything, but there was nothing. Well, actually, there were just too many distractions.

"Quit your whimpering," she snapped to the dragon-girl, getting to her feet and brushing the dirt off her pants. "You're not dying. Besides, now I can't hear anything."

And then she did hear something. It was somewhere in the throng of people a block behind them, it was the sound of a very bad word in Ancient Khan yelled in a voice that implied that something had just gone horribly wrong.

It sounded like Wynter Towhee.

Maybe she was going crazy.

* * *

She buried her face into Red's back now, squeaking loudly. She had now blocked out everything around her, focusing on just the monster within her. Her eyes flashed red for a moment. She felt it in control of her. It made her examine the people around her, choosing which would be the best to consume, then it went away.

* * *

"You okay?" Red asked, looking over his shoulder at the girl who had been fighting with Dunal. She just seemed annoyed at him and kept walking, making him frown.

_What did I do? _He wondered. Though he was concerned for Dunal, the whimpering and such. He reached behind his head and picked her up from his back, and held her against his chest with his free arm. Hopefully, that would help her.

* * *

_Scary monster..._ She nuzzled him gratefully and shivered.

* * *

Red hugged Dunal a bit more, when the group turned a corner, Red's eyes seeing a sign that read:

**_CERATOPIA RESEARCH LAB _**

It hung from a wall, which behind it was a large building.

"We're here!"

* * *

Where_?!_ She accidentally rammed her horn into his belly and beneath his ribs, but she didn't break skin. _Where monster?!_

* * *

"Ow..." Red groaned from the impact.

"We're at the lab. There's no monster." Sarid said, voice void of any emotion.

* * *

She shivered, glancing around her anyways. _Monster here... He here, he want me!_ She hugged Red tightly and dug in her claws.

* * *

"Ow." Red winced, Sarid blinking.

_Strange._

"Dunal," Red began, "don't worry. You're a fierce fighter; I'm sure what ever is scaring you is no match for you. And should anything happen, know I'll help fight. There's no need to worry."

* * *

Terra rolled her eyes at her merry band of idiots and their sentimental crap and tied her Anklyosaurus's leash to a tall metal pole, giving it a terse "Move and I'll kill you" before marching through the doors with Chuchip by her side and her head held high.

The receptionist eyed her coldly as she strode in, but Terra glared right back at her and haughtily announced, "I'm here to talk to someone who actually graduated college. Do you know where I can find a person like that?"

"Sheesh," muttered the young woman, tucking her blue curls behind her ears and fiddling with her glasses, "no need to be so awful."

"_Well_?"

"There are a lot of smart people here," said the receptionist. "Who exactly are you looking for?"

Terra stared at the black-clad redhead and the purple-eyed boy sitting on some of the couches in the lobby and at the idiots as they pushed open the doors, still deep in discussion. Then she took a deep breath.

"I need someone who can help me with a...um...sort of quirk I've got," she said, biting her lip and absentmindedly twisting one of her legs around the other. "I can...um...communicate with dinosaurs?"

She'd been expecting some big dramatic gasping or to be forced out of the lab at spearpoint, but instead the receptionist simply adjusted her glasses and gestured towards the people on the couches.

"They're here for the same reason," she said softly. "You can sit with them."

So Terra did.

* * *

Dunal quickly jumped off of Red and curled up under a chair, shivering in fright. She had her eyes covered with her hands, tail tucked around her, making herself as compact as possible.

* * *

Red frowned, and sat in the chair that Dunal hid under. It seemed strange how she had gotten scared all of a sudden.

* * *

"Ma'am." Sarid said to the receptionist. "Is there an estimated waiting time you can give me?"

"From thirty minutes to an hour, young man." She told him, watching a computer monitor.

"..." Sarid's eyes closed, and he let his breath out through his nose. "Very well. Thank you."

He turned and started back towards the door.

"Where're you going?" Red asked, Sarid turning head.

"I can wait better outside." He answered, leaving the room.

* * *

_Thirty minutes to an _hour_?_ thought Terra with a groan. _Who wants to wait that long? I certainly don't; do you, Chuchip?_

_Uh...I don't actually ca-_

_So it's settled, let's get outta here._

Terra abruptly stood up and began marching out towards the doors again, but when her dog opted to curl up and fall asleep, she marched back to her seat and plunked down with a huff. She grew more and more irritated as the seconds ticked by, constantly sighing angrily and shooting death glares (as opposed to only normal ones) to anyone who looked at her. After about five minutes she began pacing back and forth, muttering profanities under her breath. After ten minutes she seized a stack of magazines from a nearby shelf and began shredding (or "flipping," or "reading," which she decided were her cover stories) through them, pretending each page was the head of a lazy doctor or Wynter Towhee or the dragon-girl-creature-thing who'd tried to kill her twice. When fifteen minutes had passed, her impatient, ill-tempered self was a wreck: she'd bitten all her nails down to the quick, there wasn't a single paged magazine left in the room, and she was ready to actually kill someone. Finally she hooked her fingers under Chuchip's collar and dragged her dog out the door, if for nothing except a spot of fresh air and sunshine before she had to sit for hours on end in the Ceratopian equivalent of a medicine tent, keep her anger in check, pretend she didn't despise everyone in the room, and possibly have her brain poked with a stick. If absolutely nothing else, she figured, at least there was room outside to run in a couple hundred circles to pass the time.

(Terra was bad at waiting.)

* * *

Dunal slowly calmed down over time. She occasionally chewed on Red's pant leg and tore pieces off of it. Her teeth occasionally grazed his skin or bit deep into flesh. She even ripped out small chunks of his leg as a substitute for the fish she thought she was eating.

* * *

Red sat with his legs pulled up to his chest, watching Dunal eat the wrapped sushi he had brought with him.

_I hope this means she's feeling better._

* * *

Sarid hung upside down from a tree, doing curl-ups, hands behind head and still carrying his backpack. Sweat glistened on his forehead, and despite the upside view of the world, he recognized the acrimonious girl exiting the lab, her dog with her. Her nails had been chewed, and a piece of shredded paper clung to her pants leg.

_Irascible._

* * *

Dunal swallowed the chunk of fish offered to her and downed it in less than ten seconds.

She crawled out from under the chair and jumped up on Red's lap, tail thumping against his legs.

_More?_ She tilted her head in question.

* * *

"That's all the food I had." Red told her. "I can make more later, though."

* * *

She pouted and nipped his nose, jumping into his hair and curling up in the tangled mess.

* * *

_Ow. _Red thought, rubbing his nose and taking off his traveling hat. His hair was going to be a nightmare of tangles, but at least Dunal felt better now. The waiting he didn't mind, but it was strange that they had to wait considering what they were here for.

Honestly, he had expected to be hauled off and asked questions the second they were notified of the group's ability to speak with dinosaurs.

* * *

Dunal pulled a coin from Red's hair.

_You has money in your hair. It messy enough that coins run to its for covers. _She sniggered.

* * *

Terra quickly grew bored running in circles and pointedly avoiding looking at the blond boy, who gave off the vibe that he disliked her almost as much as she disliked him. So she yanked the stretchy thing out of her hair and shook it out and made a beeline for the doors of the lab (and then veered off to the side to butt into a conversation between her Anklylosaurus and a runaway Microraptor named Sassafras).

* * *

Sarid watched as the acrimonious girl took some thing from her hair then ran off to two conversing dinosaurs. He could feel she disliked him for some reason, though he felt nothing back.

He never could.

* * *

"Good afternoon, boys and girls," said a middle-aged woman in a long coat as she stepped into the lobby. Terra, tired from her running, merely arched an eyebrow at the woman as she took a clipboard from the receptionist's desk and read, "Dunal P. Nichs, Red Ranger, Adira Coleman, Caiden Forrester, Sarid, and...Terra Lark? I think that's what that says. Anyway, if you six could follow me, we can start the investigation. I believe it's high time you all get to the root of this problem."

* * *

**A/N: And that's that! Over eight thousand words and we're only at chapter one. I applaud you if you read the whole thing, I really do. Also I don't think the next chapter will be as long. (*pointed glare at other girls*) Yeahnyway, please review!**

**_- reegreeg_**

**P.S.: OOH! Guess which character belongs to who, people! It's pretty obvious, but still!**


	2. Chapter 2

_WE HAVE GOT TO WRAP THIS UP!_

* * *

**A/N: ****Uh...Well, Hey everyone! Minami here! ...Yeah that's all I got. Thanks for sticking around for a second chapter, and we hope you'll enjoy!**

**DPN here. I appreciate the following that is currently happening. Thank you.**

**Ooh! Thank you so much Brightclaw327 your review made us so happy didn't it girls? (-reegreeg)**

**Disclaimer: Reegreeg, ****Magma Red, ****DunalN2, and ****Chidori Minami, (Together as the Fossilized Fangirls) don't put any claim on the Fossil Fighters/Fossil Fighters Champions universe. We do however claim our OCs, as well as the Town and the plot.**

* * *

Adira carefully brushed her hair behind her ears, standing up along with the others called. "Well, guess I'm not all that freak of nature-ish. Still a freak of nature. Just not as much as I thought. Nice ta meet y'all." She grinned.

Terra did not grin back at the gray-eyed girl. Instead she brushed back the hair framing her sharp features in an imitation of the redhead, and said, frowning, "Oh, sweetie, you're most definitely a freak of nature. Seen your reflection lately?" With that, she flounced off to the front of the group, still tense with the feeling of being followed and certainly not happy about being grouped together with her merry band of idiots and two people who seemed just as idiotic.

Red stood looking at the teen Adira, but more at the gun she carried, which made him want to hide behind something. Still, he followed the group deeper into the lab.

Sarid walked with everyone, looking at the two newcomers, and saw not much threat from them, though the girl had a gun - nothing compared to his Phoenix Blaster that had exploding bullets - and she looked like she could beat the boy.

Then the acrimonious girl, Terra.

He still felt nothing, not even a slight dislike, but he knew she had some personality issues.

Red, the irregularly tall boy, walked like a normal person, despite the fact that Dunal was still in his hair, her head sticking out from under the hat he wore. He obviously had no problem with anyone so far, but now, seemed age was difficult to tell. Dunal seemed to be better, though.

* * *

Wynter Towhee was growing bored.

There was really only so much for a teenaged boy to do in Ceratopia when he didn't know how the city worked. And he'd done them all. He'd ran around in circles, he'd picked pockets and bought weird-looking lunch, he'd climbed to the top of the tallest building he could find and threw bird food at all the small people.

"Ugh," he groaned in Ancient Khan to nobody in particular, flopping backwards on to the grass of the park he stood in. "I'm acting like Terra Lark."

Whose scent he had officially lost. Whose footsteps no longer echoed the streets. Whose absence was really starting to agitate him, despite himself. Wynter had never been particularly adept at killing people he couldn't find.

Which had, he realized as he cursed at the birds, never actually been a problem before.

* * *

The white-paneled corridors of the laboratory were endless compared to the short trip through Ceratopia that Terra took to get there. And her feet hurt.

"Are we there yet?" she asked the scientist, the idiots all shooting her annoyed glares for no apparent reason. She'd only asked the question roughly a hundred times, after all. They had no reason to be irritated.

Sarid disliked being in the enclosed space, which he disliked even more since it made him feel the one thing that he could, the one he had buried his emotions away to escape it:

Fear.

Red had grown used to the weight of Dunal on his head. He wasn't sure if she was awake or not, which wouldn't surprise him, considering he himself found it hard to keep his eyes open. And he was hungry. That too.

"All right, everyone." The woman they had been following said, opening one of the doors. "Right this way."

Dunal awoke from her snooze in Red's hair, licking up the drool that had seeped from between her teeth. She chewed on her claws loudly, then preened her left wing, suddenly letting loose a loud, fiery yawn. She rubbed her eyes and blinked, confused with new smells and bright white blurs.

She usually spent her nights in dark caves, with beds of slab rock that she melted and buried herself in. So, it was natural for her to think that the warm thing she was on was her rocky bed, so she lit it on fire and curled up in it, still snorting out smoke and starting to dream she was feasting upon a pile of rotting fish and killing small, weak calves. Her killing claws twitched occasionally, and she hummed and clawed regularly, her body showing her dream.

Meanwhile, Red was running around screaming in utter panic, when a splash of water hit his head, putting the fire out.

He opened his eyes and blinked a couple times, seeing Sarid standing there, holding up a hand.

"...Thank you." Red told him.

Dunal screamed as water ate away at her scales. She jumped out of Red's hair and shook her body of the water, then started to preen it away. When she was done with her ten minute preen, she glared at Red and Sarid, then sat in a corner, back to everyone. She burned the floor and melted it a bit, then curled up and let herself sink into the molten metal. She licked up some of the metal, purring at the heat.

"...Well, that happened." Red stated, looking at his driver's hat, which was, somehow, intact. He'd have to cut his hair now, due to the burnt hair, but it'd grow back fast enough.

Dunal chewed off a sharp scale and tossed it to Red, obviously still mad at him. She watched him for a bit, then picked it up and jumped on his head, cutting away the burnt parts with the sharp scale.

Terra wondered if it was too late to leave and book a new appointment.

"Alright, that's good." Red told Dunal, lifting her off his head, all his burnt hair cut away. His hair would grow back quick enough.

"Miss," Sarid said to the lab employee. "Might we proceed?"

"Of course." She told him. "If each of you would please go into different rooms," she nodded to the various doors on one of the walls, "we'll ask you each a series of questions."

* * *

Terra took the door she deemed the prettiest (it had a butterfly picture on it), slamming it behind her with a flourish. _Finally, _she thought, _air I can breathe._

And then she realized she couldn't breathe it very well because lo and behold, in one of the room's two sage green armchairs sat a lab-coat wearing woman who seemed even more stupid than her merry band of idiots. The brunette groaned.

"Hello," said the woman in the armchair, blinking warm yellow eyes at her and smiling. "I'm Dr. Sidheag, but feel free to call me Sid. What's your name, sweetie?"

Terra, who did not take kindly to being called "sweetie", spat "Lark" with contempt.

"Do you have a first name, Miss Lark?"

"No."

"Well, I'm going to ask you a few questions, to see if we can use these answers to determine where your peculiar ability came from. Okay?" This time she didn't wait for an answer before asking, "Where are you from?"

"Northern Khan stronghold, Ceirw Cilfach Forest." This time, Terra hold the truth.

"When did you notice the trait beginning to develop?"

"Heck if I know. I've always talked to people, I've always talked to animals, I've always talked to dinosaurs. S'like breathing. Y'never think about it." Terra always thought about it and the crap it had brought into her life, but the rest was still free from lies.

"Do you think that your ability is somehow connected to the inborn communication with animals that all Khans have?"

"No. The elders would have said something if it was," Terra mumbled. Yet another truth. She must've been going soft.

"Does anyone in your family have this power? Do you think it's hereditary?"

"_Noooo_." Terra flopped backwards and groaned. "Ugh! Your questions are stupid. _You're_ stupid. I thought people in Ceratopia would be better at this than the stupid, senile fools back home who wear furs in the summer and linen all winter. But you're even _worse_."

Dr. Sidheag blinked her wolflike eyes once more and said, "Miss Lark, I know it's hard for you, but everyone involved is doing their best to help you, okay? We care."

Terra beckoned Chuchip onto her seat, buried her face in his fur, and said nothing.

* * *

Red entered one of the rooms, seeing a tall, dark-haired man sitting in one of the two arm chairs.

"Hello." He said. "I'm Professor Pines. If you would have a seat, we can begin."

"Yes sir." Red told him, nodding. He went to the empty chair and sat down, taking off his hat. His hair was a mess and unevenly cut, but he smoothed best he could.

"Now then, what's your name, young man?" Prof. Pines asked.

"Red Renja. Ranger, in English." Red told him.

"Ah, you're far from home, eh?"

"Yes sir."

"Very polite. Your parents raised you well."

"Thank you, sir." Red said, smiling some.

"Well, I know where you're from due to the name..." Prof. Pines said. "When did you notice this trait start to develop?"

"Uhm...I think when I was six...That's about as far back as I can remember, but my parents told me that when I started to walk, one time a small dinosaur came over and supported me." Red told him, the professor raising his brows.

"So do you think you called out for help and he answered it?"

"Uh...I...I think so."

"When did you start walking?"

"Around eighteen months."

"I see..." He wrote something on the clipboard, then looked back up at Red. "Do you think this trait is hereditary?"

"No sir." Red told him, shaking his head. "I remember it really bothered my parents, though. They took me to the doctor a couple times and they did this weird scan thing..."

"Hm." He hummed.

* * *

Sarid blinked, and stayed where he was standing, he being alone in the room with the woman who brought them there.

"Mr. Sarid, if you please enter one of these ro-"

"No." He said. "I will not go into a small room."

"Mr. Sarid, it will just-"

"No."

"..." The woman sighed, then went to the remaining room. "He won't come in."

"I'll interview him outside." A man in the room answered, coming out. He was stout with grey streaked nutmeg hair, glasses and few age marks. "Come with me, please." Sarid followed him, then entering a courtyard, where Sarid took a deep breath.

He went back to feeling nothing.

"Well, let's get started." The man said, sitting on a chair at an outdoor table, Sarid sitting in the one across. "What's your name?"

"Sarid."

"Sarid...?"

"I have no last name."

"Oh...You're an orphan?"

"...Of sorts."

"I see..." He wrote something on his clip board. "I'm Doctor Gleeful, by the way."

"Hm." Sarid hummed.

"Now, where are you from?"

"Originally?"

"Well...where all have you lived?"

"...Earth Is-land, and three...unimportant locations."

"...Don't you mean Island?"

"No, Earth Is-land."

"...Right...well, what are the other three?"

"Unimportant."

"...Riiight...Well, when did you notice this ability?"

"Six months ago."

"Do you think this trait is hereditary?"

"No."

"..."

"..."

"..." Dr. Gleeful blinked, took off his glasses and rubbed his craggy brows before looking back up at Sarid.

"Is there anything you can really tell me?" he asked.

"I'm here to learn why I have this ability to make it go away; not speak of my personal life." Sarid told him, his face, voice, and eyes void of any expression.

* * *

After a while, Dr. Sidheag rose from her seat and pressed a few things on a strange glowing box before helping Terra to her feet and saying, "If you want, Miss Lark, you can go outside. You don't look well."

"Thank you," Terra whispered, though the words almost pained her, and walked to the door on shaky legs. Her outburst felt like it had drained her somehow, and being interrogated like that only heightened her paranoia.

"But please don't wander off too far. We'll have to call you back eventually."

Terra, being the unpleasant little creature she was, paid no heed to her instructions. Once her head stopped swimming, she broke into a run, flying down the stairs and bursting out onto the courtyard.

"I _hate_ Ceratopia!" she exclaimed gleefully, picking up a pile of dead autumn leaves from the grass and throwing them up into the crisp air. "Ha! I hate their glowing things and smiley doctors who look like werewolves and squishy chairs! I hate it _all_! I wanna live here forever!"

Chuchip, the eternal voice of reason, stared at her. _What? _he asked, prodding her leg with his nose. _But you hate it all._

"I know!" She knelt down to grin at her dog. "And it's so much fun, hating things!"

_Remind me again why nobody decided to crack open your head and fix you while we were in that lab?_

Terra flopped backwards onto the dirt, wrinkling her nose at a faint whiff of something Wynter-smelling and deciding to ignore it. "I dinna ken. But I en't complaining. What if they decided to take out the part of my soul that hates things? Where would we be then, huh?"

_In a much better world,_ said Chuchip, but Terra pretended not to hear him.

* * *

"Well, Red, why don't you go out to the courtyard for some fresh air?" Prof. Pines asked after a bit.

"Yes sir, thank you." Red told him, putting his hat back on then leaving the room. He found the court yard, and the first thing he saw were the trees.

_TREEEEES! _He mentally yelled, then running straight to one, tripping over Terra who laid on the ground for some reason, Red falling flat on his face.

"Sorry Terra." He told her, then getting back up and running to the tree, climbing up into it.

* * *

"..." Sarid and Dr. Gleeful sat silent.

"...Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"No."

"..." The doctor rubbed his brows again. "Well, I have to go process this information, so, why don't you wait out here?"

Sarid said nothing as the man left. He turned his head to see the acrimonious girl oddly overjoyed about something, when Red came out. His eyes lit up when he saw the trees, running to them, tripping over Terra, then getting up after an apology, and climbing up the tree.

_...Either he's a puerile adolescent, or a tall child._

* * *

Terra blinked, dazed. "Was I just tripped over?" she asked the sky, standing up and brushing the dirt off her shirt. Her short-lived euphoria dissipated and a scowl found its way back onto her face as she placed her hands on her hips, making a beeline for the tall gray-haired boy, Red. (Terra, coming from a large group of people all named after birds and dirt, found the name incredibly silly.)

"Excuse me," she called, looking up at Red and his perch in a tree. "I dinna ken what that was all about, but am I correct in believing I was just _tripped over_? Like, by you? 'Cause let me tell you something, sweetheart, I am _not_ tripped over. You can walk around me if I'm in your way. Or about face and do something else with your life. You don't trip over me and get dust on my new shirt."

* * *

Red looked down from the tree the hung upside down in, holding onto his hat. Terra stood glaring up at him, venom to rival a snake's in her eyes.

"I said sorry." He tells her. "I didn't mean to trip over you. I saw this tree and I got really excited is all. Climbing them is fun."

* * *

Dunal sat in the tree, having skipped the whole interrogation process. The small rooms and spaces and questions made her feel frightened and she instead raced outside to cool down.

Now Red was in her tree. She didn't like it at all.

She sank her teeth into his ankle and hissed as she made light slices in it.

_OUT OF MY TREE_ NOW!

* * *

Red had no idea what bit him, so he proceeded to shriek in pain, and fall from the tree, kicking whatever had just bitten him.

_Misconducts. _Sarid thought, officially deeming Adira, Caiden, and himself the only sane ones in the group.

* * *

Dunal laughed in the tree after giving Red a few hard bites on the nose and arms and legs. She had her wings spread out and flapping to keep her from falling off the tree.

_You a funny human! You make fool of self! _Tears streamed down her face as she continued to laugh hard.

* * *

Sarid held up his hand, causing a blast of water to strike Dunal.

_Juvenile._

He stood and went over to Red, and took out a pink-ish colored bottle, taking the cork out the top and making Red drink the contents, which made his wounds disappear.

* * *

Dunal screamed in pain and used her wings to protect her face from the blast. She shot a jet of flame in return and flew into Red's hair to hide from any other blasts.

_Stop! I hate water! I stay here, didn't mean to hurt Red! _She curled up and started to dry her scales with both his hair and her own heat.

* * *

"Then be cautious." Sarid instructed her. "He's not immune to fire or covered in protective armor."

* * *

She stuck out her tongue._ No. Not listen to you. Only listen to Red. _She licked Red's nose and purred, curling up in his hair.

* * *

"Actually, he's right, Dunal." Red told tells her. "I'm not immune to fire or your teeth and claws, so please be careful."

* * *

_Okay..._ She peered out of his hair._ I not allowed to play anymore?_ She stared a bit more, then sighed and curled up in his hair, obviously sad.

* * *

"You just have to be careful is all." Red told her.

* * *

Terra stood, dumbstruck, staring at the events that had just unfolded above her, and then went back to glaring. "I don't care if you're sorry," she sniffed to Red, "and I don't care if you find tree-climbing fun. If you're gonna trip over anyone, trip over blondie here." She gestured to the blond boy (who, now that she thought about it, had a rather androgynous scent and appearance – she'd make sure to use it as teasing ammunition if the chance ever rolled around). "Nobody cares about him."

Then she strode into the woods with a toss of her hair, shooting a rude hand sign behind her.

* * *

Finishing up their interrogations quickly, Adira and Caiden slunk outside, just in time to see Terra stalk off.

"Yo." Adira drawled, plodding towards Sarid with her hands in her pockets. "How come I always miss the fun stuff?"

"...The freaky thing BIT him!" Caiden squawked.

"Fuuun."

"...You scare me, really."

"Sarcasm is a foreign language ta you, ain't it?"

"H-hi..." Red said, still looking at the gun Adira carried.

"..." Sarid said nothing, but one thing came to mind. "That acrimonious Terra should check herself; she doesn't need to take it out on others if she's mistaken for an incorrigible dragon."

At that, Red burst into laughter, to such an extent that he fell to the ground and rolled about, holding his sides.

Terra whirled around to face the general direction of the lab. "I heard that!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "And I'd thank you for calling me a dragon if you weren't such a _looooooooser_!"

Sarid turned his head, still unable to feel anything.

"Thank you for the compliment. I've been called much worse things." He said.

Adira hummed, barely turning her head towards Terra. "That th' best insult ya could come up with, huh?" she snorted, trotting towards a tree, which she flopped down against.

Pulling her gun out idly, she flicked the safety on and off.

"Oh my GOD put that away! What are you, crazy?!" Caiden wailed.

"Naw, I've been tested."

Shoving his hair out of his face, the raven inched away from her, all the while eyeing her suspiciously. "I refuse to believe that until given proof."

Red currently crouched behind Sarid, watching the gun, until something else came across his mind, he looking around for conformation.

He then burst into laughter once more.

Terra skipped towards the crowd and raised her eyebrows at the assembled idiots, smiling widely. _Finally,_ she thought, _a spot of fun._ "It wasn't, Miss Hillbilly," she told the redhead, "but we wouldn't want anybody getting hurt here, would we? Especially not you. I understand gingers are going extinct. And blondie..." She frowned slightly, putting a finger to her chin. "Is it terribly forward, and off topic, of me to say you're incredibly composed for a _girl_?" Then she turned a cold eye on the dark-haired boy and Red. "Well, to be frank, I have nothing to say," she scoffed after a moment. "I don't normally expend brain cells on lower states of being. You're quite simply cowards and slugs and whatever weed you two are smoking certainly isn't helping."

Caiden stared. "Oh my god you're worse than my SISTER! AND SHE'S THE SPAWN OF THE DEVIL."

Adira blinked idly, "Aww, y'all are so cute! Trying to turn everyone against each other 'nd paintin' a big ol' red target on your back!" For emphasis, she flicked the safety off again and pointed it at her.

Red just stopped laughing, confused. "I was laughing 'cause I'm the tallest one here."

As proof, he stood up, standing a noticeable four inches above Caiden.

Sarid however still felt nothing from Terra's jabbing.

"It's not my fault if you're a sapphic and want me to be a girl." He said. Red blinked, looking at him.

"...What's that?" He asked.

"...Are you kidding me?" Caiden poked Red. "You're like, thirteen!" Caiden slumped in defeat. "Whhhyyy I'm going to have to ask him to get things off of high shelves I FEEL SO SHORT!"

"Don't worry!" Red told him, patting his head. "Guys don't stop growing until they're in their twenties. You'll grow a bit more."

"While I admire you for trying to make me feel better, I still feel short."

Terra wrinkled her nose at the dark-haired boy. "Thank you?" she said, the sentence trailing off in a question. "Miss Hillbilly, if I may, I don't really have a target on my back, and I'm not sure why you're waving a metal stick about, so I'm just gonna ignore you, okay? It's probably hard for you to socialize with anything except cows so this is all for the best. Now, blondie, I understand accusing other people to be 'saff-icks' makes you feel better about your insecurities-"

And then she didn't get any further before she was put in a headlock and someone jabbed the pressure point behind her ear hard, making her faint dead away in a most wimpy manner.

Wynter Towhee winced. He hadn't planned for his kidnapping and/or execution of Terra Lark to be in front of others. The tribe hadn't told him Ceratopia had, like, people in it. "Sorry," he said apologetically. "Didn't mean to interrupt. But I have dibs on killing her – she broke Khan rules and stuff. No hard feelings, right? You looked like you were arguing anyway." Then he smiled at the people assembled, yellow eyes flashing.

"...Put the kid down and back away." Adira stood up slowly, hand tightening on her gun. _"I don't even have BULLETS in here what the heck am I supposed to do?!" _She thought in panic.

"Not sure what kind of psycho town you two came from, but here, both murder and kidnapping is ILLEGAL. Drop her!" Caiden growled.

Sarid drew his Phoenix Blaster from his backpack, replacing the exploding bullets with meteor shots.

"She's acrimonious, but letting you kill her would make me no better than you." He said. "Now release her."

Red didn't care if Terra had been rude, and he had to agree with Sarid.

Good thing he had taken self-defense since he was three.

He lunged forward, jabbing the attacker in the throat causing a choking noise, Red pulling Terra from the attacker's grip, then forcing him to turn as they fell. Red hugged him and rolled over, his arms pinning the attacker's to his sides, and Red using his legs to pin down the attacker's. He then got the attacker's head between his own and his shoulder, so that he was unable to move, completely immobilizing the attacker.

Terra quickly regained consciousness and rolled backwards through the grass, snapping her head up in time to see Wynter Towhee and Red the not-so-red boy go down. She cursed in Ancient Khan so much and so rapidly she felt her tongue would fall out and adrenaline was gushing through her veins a hundred miles per minute. She loved a good fight as much as the next girl, but this was not a good fight: it was a fight she never ever wanted to happen; it was a fight that was going to end up with her dying gruesomely one way or another. Eyes wide, she wedged her foot in between the two boys' heads and forced them apart, breathing "Ohmygosh _no_" over and over.

Wynter grinned. Terra Lark really _was_ incredibly stupid. He rammed his head back into the gray-haired boy's, and once the taller boy's grip had loosened he shot to his feet and flipped him over his shoulder, then kicked the boy in the solar plexus, to boot. Then he grabbed Terra Lark again and pressed a knife to her throat. "I'm trying this one last time," he said through gritted teeth. "This girl deserves to die. She's a turncoat and broke the rules and stuff. And it's my job, okay? So you all get to stay outta this and let me do my job and stop waving metal tubes at me."

Terra stomped on Wynter's boot-clad foot, hard, putting all of her eighty-seven pounds of weight into it. "He's right," she said in a strangled voice. "Stay out of this. It's his job to kill me and mine to kill him. Got that?"

Sarid released fire, shooting Wynter in his left knee, right elbow, and a third that grazed his side, causing him to fall.

"Those were for Red." Sarid told him. "And I should shoot Terra for being stupid, but I'm not."

"I'm okay!" Red declared, shooting a hand in the air.

Adira lunged, grabbing Terra and pushing her away. "It's generally a darn'd good idea ta STAY AWAY FROM PEOPL' WHO WANT YA DEAD." Tightening her grip, she shouted at Caiden. "Bullets! Back pocket, GET THEM!" Scrambling to obey the pissed red, he did as told, grabbing a box of bullets out of her back pocket. "How the heck did we get past security with all these weapons!" he wailed, dropping a few into her palm, which she quickly loaded into her gun.

"GO AWAY!" yelled Terra, pushing the redhead away and mentally yelling at her Ankylosaurus to get off its lazy behind and help her and for Chuchip to get off his lazy behind and run away. Chuchip heeded her orders without hesitation but the Ankylosaurus, notoriously grumpy, gave her a mere "Apaadi, no, I'm busy" as a response. "I BURNED THIS BRIDGE ALL BY MYSELF," she went on. "I KNEW THEY'D SEND SOMEONE AFTER ME, IT'S JUST HOW THINGS WORK! TIME FOR ME TO REAP WHAT I SOWED AND ALL THAT! I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!" She looked over her shoulder at a heavily bleeding Wynter Towhee, then shot withering glares at the meddling blond person, redhead, and gray-haired boy; and in a final burst of desperation, sent a mental cry for help throughout all the forest behind her, hoping a conveniently located Tyrannosaurus Rex or Amphicoelias Fragillimus or even just a grizzly bear would pop out and help her kill people, but nothing happened.

"Yeah, well, YOU'RE GETTING IT!" Adira snarled. "What kind of people do ya take us to be?! Like we're gonna sit back and watch ya get MURDERED!"

Sarid still felt nothing, but strode over to the attacker, binding him by the wrists and ankles with chains, then forcing him to drink one of the pink bottles, making his wounds heal.

_These two have not the slightest idea of anything._ He thought, then swallowing in hopes it would soothe his agitated throat. He had spoken enough for the next two months today.

"What'd you do that was so bad?" Red asked, blinking.

"Let's all just...calm down. Calm is good. WHY CAN'T I GET CALM?" Caiden wailed, starting to hyperventilate.

"Oh, fy daioni," snarled Wynter to Terra, speaking to her like she was actually a person for the first time in years, "nad ydych wedi etaiyum kēhi? Tapā'īṁ yī kēhi nahīṁ bhan'yō cha kūṇṭillāta nattai āpaṇa kāya kēlaṁ?"

"Of course not," answered Terra in her thickly brogue-accented English. "Have you seen the lot?" Nevertheless, she sank onto a rock and sighed. "I ran away from the tribe," she told Red, not bothering to hide the contempt in her voice. "And much like killin' a deer herd's alpha or disrespecting the dead, that is frowned upon in Khan society. So they'll kill me for it. Unless I kill Wynter Towhee here – winning a fair duel with your designated assassin makes you worthy of life and such and bleh, blah, blooh. But," she announced in a stronger, loftier tone, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth across the grass (with all the theatricality of a Ceirw Cilfach-native elk), "I am not to blame! It is all Wynter Towhee's fault!" She opened her mouth wide, pointing to the space where one of her canine teeth used to be. "He punched me! And tried to kill me, like, three times! And so did everyone, because oh, Terra Lark can talk to dinosaurs, Terra Lark can't be a shaman, Terra Lark's demon spawn. Terra Lark brings misfortune and plague! Terra Lark is a curse! Terra Lark has made us rewrite our entire society because she will die if there are fish spirits in the air and now what'll we do if absolutely everything edible in the forest dies except fish, huh? We'll die, too, that's what. And would you all like to know the worst of it all?" Terra placed her hands on her hips and tossed her hair. "I'm not the only curse," she said quietly, giving Wynter Towhee a tight-lipped smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Oh, no."

Wynter stared at her, eyes wide. "How did you know?" he breathed.

"The class trip to the ancient hunting fields," she replied, lifting her chin. "There was no way you could have calmed down those Utahraptors enough to get them out o' that cave if you couldn't talk to them."

"Well, this just got serious. But let's pretend, for just one darn'd moment, you two belong to a normal society, and let's talk CALMLY and NOT TRY TO KILL EACH OTHER." Adira grouched, checking the safety was on before she slid her gun back into its holster. Turning to Caiden she pat him on the head.

"Easy there."

"I AM NOT A HORSE!"

"Hey! That's stereotypical! I have no experience with horses!"

"A person is not a curse." Sarid stated, his voice empty of emotion. "The only curses that exist are the ones you think are real..."

"I have to agree with Sarid." Red said. "I'm sorry, but your people need to stop and think. How could a person's existence cause supernatural things to happen? I mean, sure, Terra's kinda mean, but that's because the Khan forced the idea that everything hates her into her head when that's not true. Besides, if your people rejected her so much, why pay her mind when she did the thing everyone seemed to want?"

Dunal was now just sick of hearing the entire fight. She went into Battle Form and shoved over both Wynter and Terra, her killing claws over both of their chests.

"Shut up, both of you, or I'll eat you both." She glared at them both for a long while, her bright yellow eyes flickering red. She had most of her weight upon her claws, but was refraining from stabbing them both through the heart and becoming a murderer of something other than just minnows and sharks.

She licked her teeth and took a few deep breathes to calm herself. Whipping her tail back and forth to keep away the others, she was now settled upon fixing this all her way.

_Misconduct. _Sarid thought, then taking ear plugs from his pocket and putting them into his ears, and then a music bow from his backpack. Turning the handle on the side, soft music hummed from it.

A minute later, and everyone was fast asleep, Sarid putting the box away and removing his earplugs.

"Alright every - WHAT THE-?!" Sarid turned his head to see Dr. Gleeful standing there, completely befuddled. "Oh, great. NOW how are we supposed to get them in the lab?!"

Dunal stirred in her sleep, then lazily raised her head and yawned. She licked her lips and stared at the sleeping people before her and realized she was directly on top of Wynter. She got off of him and licked his face. Another yawn, a large, long stretch, some preening, and Dunal was fully awake. She quietly strode up to the scientist, staring him in the face. Her nose horn was just beneath his chin and pressed harshly against his throat.

_Why are you here, little snack?_

Terra and Wynter, hyperactive by nature, woke up quickly, looked at each other, and screamed at the top of their thirteen-year-old lungs.

Sarid blasted all three of them with water bolts.

"You two, calm yourselves." he told Terra and Wynter, then looking at Dunal. "And you, don't eat anyone."

"Wow!" Red exclaimed, shooting up. "That was a good nap."

"Well, now that most of you are awake, we need all of you back in the lab to tell you the results of processing the information." Dr. Gleeful told them.

"Lab?" Wynter stared at the man. "Information?"

"Yes, speaking to dinosaurs and I'm guessing that's why you're here." Dr. Gleeful said, sighing.

Dunal stuck out her tongue._ I act however I want to._ She then turned around and glared at Dr. Gleeful hungrily. She studied him for a bit, drooling, but in the end she deemed him too scrawny to be of any worth to her. She turned back to Red and purred lovingly, rubbing her horn on his hand.

_Hungry! Feed! You promised me jerky!_ She stared at him for a while before purring again, dragging Red along in her teeth to the building so he could make her some food.

"I don't have the stuff to make it!" he objected, then feeling another blast of water, looking to see Sarid standing with his hand up. "...Are you able to shoot anything else like that?" he asked with interest.

"FORGET THAT!" Dr. Gleeful yelled. "WE NEED ALL OF YOU IN LAB, NOW!"

Dunal hissed at the scientist and sat down defiantly. _I not moving until my stomach is filled._

"How many people did you tell, Lark?" demanded Wynter, yanking the too-large chains off his knobby wrists and crossing his arms.

"I kept it a secret until now," she replied calmly, shooting her ex-friend one of her trademark glares. "The smart man must've guessed, didn't you, smart man?"

Wynter elbowed her in the stomach as hard as he could and almost went to stand with someone saner than the petite Lark girl, but looking around and remembering all the things they'd said and did, actually deemed Terra Lark the safest of the bunch. He also realized the chains weren't coming off his ankles any time soon. Which would not make walking that easy.

"I can carry these two." Red stated, getting Adira over his shoulder and Caiden under his arm.

"Good, now," Dr. Gleeful looked at Wynter. "You, new boy, uh...someone get the binds off."

Instead of removing them, Sarid re-bound him with more chain, this way so his arms were pinned to his sides, his hand on his chest. Sarid then picked him up, putting him over his shoulder.

"Finally. Follow me." He said, going back into the lab, Red and Sarid following.

Dunal still refused to move. She tripped Red with her tail and glared at him menacingly when he turned to her.

_**FEED.**_ She bared her teeth. She glanced at Sarid for a moment, then changed her mood to avoid provoking him into using more water on her. _Get you things you need to feed if you make._

Red stood up, his shoulder hurting from the impact to the ground, since he had to keep Arida and Caiden from getting hurt.

"I can't right now." He told Dunal, he and Sarid going into the lab with Dr. Gleeful, walking down the empty corridors until the came to a room with several chairs, and other people in lab coats, Red recognizing Prof. Pines.

Dunal followed them, tail swishing behind her. She followed them to the room, then spat up several things needed to make something meaty. She looked over to Red and dragged him to it by his hair, forcing him to sit. _Make me something_, she demanded. _Make me something to eat._

"Mmm...Nooo Mister Ferret I'm sleeepppiiiinnngg...!" Adira mumbled, flailing weakly.

"Jeerrrkkky..." Drooled Caiden.

Terra had nothing to say (aside from the odd jeer in Ancient Khan to the upside-down Wynter) for the second time that day as she strode down the hall. Her head was spinning faster and faster each minute and her brain was beginning to hurt, but she couldn't even complain. The shock had sunk in and she was quite frankly speechless. _Wynter Towhee found you, _said one part of her. _You're not getting rid of him,_ laughed another. A particularly nasty part of her hurting brain was particularly fond of snickering _And everybody hates you. Always have...always will. _

Terra told that part to shut up. She found her voice and said hello to Dr. Sidheag as she sat down on a plump plaid sofa and pretended to ignore the Towhee being placed next to her.

It was time for Adira and Caiden to wake up.

Sarid took out the same music box, this time turning the handle the opposite direction. The sleeping young adults shot up, Sarid putting the box away, sitting down in one of the chairs.

Red sat staring at the things Dunal had coughed up, which were too...digested to be used for anything.

"I'm sorry, but I can't use these." He told her.

"Your attention, children." Prof. Pines said. "Good. Now, we have analyzed the data, and it was...inconclusive."

"Sir?" Red asked, blinking.

"We weren't able to draw anything from it." Dr. Pines told him. "So, we're going to have to observe and process your day-to-day actions, and your interactions with each other."

"How?" Red asked.

* * *

All of them, as well as some of the scientists, stood in front of a large house.

"...I'm still confused." Red said.

"All of you are going to be put in this house, and we're going to watch your actions." Prof. Pines explained.

"...O...K..." Red told him.

It was then Sarid raised his voice, running towards the house.

"**I CLAIM THE BIGGEST ROOM AS MY OWN!**" He yelled, though he still showed no emotion.

* * *

And he found it.

It was wide, long, and had the high, airy ceiling, even a small loft.

It was a corner room, with odd sliding doors that went out to a deck that went round the house, while windows let in plenty of sunlight. The bed was large and soft, with drapes tied back, and a canopy high above, and at the foot of it was a round table with two arm chairs, both angled towards a TV. Night stands on both sides of the bed carried lamps, one having a clock.

There were four steps down then, which allowed down to the large area of the room, which had two sofas and more arm chairs, all around a coffee table. The large door to the hall was down there as well, the wooden sliding doors open.

In the corner, under the small loft, upon the raised area, was a juice bar with a sink, and stocked with fruits off all kinds. The curved stair case to the loft was next to the juice bar, and the loft itself had two more arm chairs, and a chess table that had shelves for books. A small fire place also, which, at the time, sat cold and dead.

Back on the raised area of the floor was a dresser, Sarid's pack laying atop it, a desk that held more books and an odd chair with wheels. Also, a door that led to a large bathroom, which contained a large shower and tub, not to mention a full-wall mirror and marble vanity.

It was a bright, airy room, plenty of elbow room, and had two-wall access to the large yard surrounding the house.

They would have to kill him to have this room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Red had claimed the room next to Sarid's, which as well had a sliding door to the deck and yard.

His had a loft bed, which a sofa was under, facing a television on the wall, a dresser and desk with rolling chair, a bookcase, and door to a bathroom much like Sarid's, only smaller.

After he unpacked, he ran right to the kitchen.

_It's beautiful... _He thought, admiring the granite top counter and island, the fine made cabinets, shining cookware, and plenty of food.

His mind was so overwhelmed, he had no idea what to make for supper.

* * *

Terra and Wynter watched their fellow misfits scurry around the building with all sorts of shouts of "I WANT THIS ROOM" and "NO, THAT ONE'S MINE!" It all passed above their heads – Terra and Wynter lived in teepees, plain and simple. They weren't used to having more than a bedroll, a log, and a dresser to themselves, and now here they were, in a fancy Ceratopian house with fancy Ceratopian living conditions and all manner of fancy Ceratopian things that neither of them knew how to spell.

"I get the yard," said Wynter immediately. He watched Terra blink rapidly in shock and laughed as she spluttered, "What? I wanted the yard!"

Before she could do anything else, however, Wynter Towhee had darted out of the sliding doors and dumped absolutely everything he owned (he'd packed for a long trip) on to the manicured lawn and began to quickly assemble a makeshift tent, paying the now-ruined flower beds zero mind whatsoever. He was very proud of himself. Even though his tent was slightly dysfunctional.

* * *

Terra, on the other hand, was not very proud of Wynter Towhee. She'd nowhere to stay, not without a nice flat expanse of green and perhaps a tree or two. In her mind, her dramatic teenaged-girl mind, she would be homeless and die a gruesome death and that would be that and someone would eat her dog.

She sent a mental shout-out to Chuchip, telling him to _get his booty over here right now or she will not be held responsible for the consequences, mister_, and inched towards Dr. Sidheag.

"Psst," she hissed. "Pssssssst."

"Yes, Miss Lark?"

"I'm homeless."

"What?"

"Towhee took the yard and now I'm _hooooomeless_."

Dr. Sidheag, who Terra, despite herself, was beginning to tolerate, smiled, and said, "I _see_. Let's see if we can fix that, okay?"

Of course, Terra followed the good doctor for about three seconds before bounding up the staircase and spinning into the first room she saw, shouting "THIS ONE SUCKS THE LEAST, I'VE GOT DIBS!" as loud as she could, slamming the door behind her.

The room, from what little Terra knew about Ceratopian interior design, was quite nice. It wasn't very large, but it had a cute little loft and a cute little fireplace set into the far wooden wall. The staircase to her little loft had a bookshelf built into it, shelves wrapped around the walls, and all the poufs in her sitting area opened up for storage space. Her bed was kind of built into the wall, taking up minimal space in her loft; her already-stocked closet was a pair of small doors set into the opposite wall. It was all very practical.

Under the loft, by the fireplace, was a small sitting area, with two bay windows with cute little window seats and built-in drawers containing blankets and towels and things, three poufs around a glass coffee table, a brightly-colored hemp rug, and a glowing thing that went on and off when Terra pressed a button. (She would later learn it was a "lamp", but she liked the term "glowing-thing-with-button-control-thing" much better.) These two spaces seemed to essentially be the only space she had, not counting the door out to the hallway or anything, but it was all well and good nonetheless.

* * *

"Bed! BACK TO SLEEP I GO!" Caiden cheered, bounding into the first unclaimed room he saw. It was basic, with dark forest green walls, a desk in the corner made of some dark wood, the bed being made of the same dark wood with pale yellow sheets and the comforter being the same green as the walls. There was also a dresser in the corner nearest to the closet.

In a room a few doors down, Adira poked at things, cracking her back and wincing.

* * *

Back in Sarid's room, he laid on the bed, hugging one of the plush pillows.

_Pack. _He remembered, then getting up and going to the dresser, opening his backpack. Storing away all his weapons, he came across the only change of clothes he had brought. If these people were anything like the ones back at Earth Is-Land, there was going to problems.

Sarid thought about it, then looked around the room again. Where was he supposed to work? The loft caught his eye, and it seemed ideal due to the fireplace; he could easily make that into a forge.

A few minutes later, the chess table and chairs were down on the main floor, and an anvil, work bench, achlemy station, sawmill, and loom had been set on the loft, giving Sarid the neat working space he needed.

He sat at the loom, making more clothes for him to wear.

* * *

Dunal silently followed, swallowing what she had spit up and knocking as many things as she could over with her tail. Once at the house, she just found a large rock, melted it, and lay down on it.

"MINE. No one touch or they get eaten." She snorted sparks, then fiddled with the blades of grass. She enjoyed watching them burn as she set fire to the individual plants. They simply shriveled up and turned black, then turned to ash in her claws.

After repeating the process for several more pieces, she looked up at the house. Her cave back on Claw Isle looked more inviting. An actual building seemed strange and foreign to her.

Wynter looked at the dragon-girl-creature-thing warily. She had just set the yard on fire.

Well, sort of. Small flames were licking across the grass and sparks were jumping around, but thirteen years of life hadn't left Wynter _too_ stupid. He knew that the entire affair screamed "fire hazard" and that death was probably imminent.

"Yo! You!" he called to the dragon-girl-creature-thing. "Can you- you should- there's- can you stop that? You're gonna get me killed. I'm too cool for that."

Dunal proceeded to shoot flame at him, only just missing him.

_You don't like it, then go find your own place, idiot._

Adira glanced out her window, watching the flames with disinterest. "We're all gonna be killed by the end of th' week. Best get my will started."

"First come, first served," snapped Wynter.

* * *

Sarid had finished making more clothes, storing them away in the dresser. After that, he went to one of the wooden sliding doors, pushing it open to see the large yard filled with green grass, trees, and such things.

The smell of burning grass came to him, he turning head and seeing Dunal had set fire to the yard.

_Misconduct. _

He went to it and stamped the fire out, then took out his Drax.

Sarid dug a ditch about ten feet away from the boulder, all the way around in a circle, then filled it with sand. Dunal now had her own fire-theme area, with out worry of fire spreading to the rest of the yard.

He then went to a tree, jumped up, grabbing a branch, then doing chin-ups.

Wynter was beginning to wonder if the yard was really the safest place to be. Maybe, he reasoned, he could kill Terra Lark when nobody was looking and steal her room. And go home. And never deal with these psychopaths again.

It was a good plan.

_Don't even think of it, psychopath. If you dare even lift a finger against her, I will rip you apart, limb from limb, and then beat you to death with your own arm._ She bared her fangs, then spat lava on the sand, which set fire to a bit of the grass on the other side of her little ring. The Dinaurian then spat fire gel at Wynter, hoping to at least give him a good burn on his arm.

* * *

Meanwhile, Red was in the kitchen, making anything that came to mind.

* * *

Wynter grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes at the dragon-girl-creature-thing as he stomped out the embers. "Look," he huffed, "this whole business between me and Terra? None of your beeswax. It never will be your beeswax. So stay away from it, telek. Okay? Is that so hard?"

_Contemptuous. _Sarid thought, then releasing the tree branch. How to keep everyone from killing each other was a puzzle...

So, he'd solve it while making something.

He re-entered his room through the sliding door - which he left open - and went up to his work loft, and took out some materials to make more explosive bullets for his Phoenix Blaster.

Now that he saw the bullet shells and explosive powder, it struck him that Dunal was much like Durim back at Earth Is-Land, considering that both were pyromaniacs. Wynter seemed much like Marquis from how he started an argument with Dunal - something Marquis and Durim did.

Red seemed like Asher due to the fact both of them were passive and somewhat friendly, then Terra was just like Hannah during a Blood Moon. Caiden reminded him somewhat of Leonardo on the fact that both seemed to panic easily, and Adira made Autumn come to mind. Possibly due to the fact both had red had red hair.

It was going to be a lifetime before he returned to his island.

* * *

In the kitchen, Red sighed and wiped his hands on a towel, an apron tied around his waist. He had removed his hat and coat, showing blue goggles on his head and a blue and grey striped, v-neck shirt, as well as a blue and grey vest. The food before his was finished, consisting of cornish game hens, liver and leeks, onigiris made to look like little pandas, spring rolls, fried rice, soumen, and the jerky Dunal wanted.

"SUPPER!" Red yelled at the top of his lungs.

Terra raised her eyebrows at the food on the table as she hopped down the stairs and grimaced. "That's food?" she asked warily. "Doesn't look like it."

She brushed past Wynter on her way out the door in search of her dog, and he added, "You people eat little bear heads? That's sick!"

"They're not bear heads." Red told him. "They're rice balls made to look like them. My mom said it's cute."

Sarid entered the kitchen, looking at the food. His mouth watered, the smells brushing under his nose. This food would taste divine compared to the stews he ate back at the island.

"Rice...balls?" Wynter blinked. "What?"

"Here, they're delicious!" Red told him, holding up one of the onigiris.

Meanwhile, Sarid sat at the table, devouring a cornish hen, some spring rolls, and a bit of everything Red had made. It was the best food he had ever tasted.

"Nuh-uh-uh-uh-uh." Wynter shook his head plaintively at the taller boy and went to sit at the other end of the table. "No rice bears for me."

Wynter wondered where rice bears came from. He'd have to warn whoever lived in that country that people were eating their heads.

Red blinked and then shrugged, putting down the onigiri. He then picked up a plate of spring rolls, looking over at Wynter.

"You wanna try some spring rolls?" he asked.

Wynter eyed the offending wrap things cautiously, thinking, _They should be called winter rolls, in honor of me_, and biting his lip. "Y'know how we don't like each other?" he asked the gray-haired boy. "'Cause you got in the way of my plan and like tried to kill me and stuff? Yeah. Uh, so, I'm just gonna decline all the food you give me, thanks. It might be poisonous. There're all sorts of toxic plants in the yard, so it wouldn't be too hard for you to kill someone over dinner or anything."

Red blinked, confused. He didn't try to kill him, just stop him from hurting Terra or anyone else. It was Sarid that nearly killed him earlier. And he didn't really know poisonous plants. All he knew how to make was delicious food.

"Well, look at Sarid." Red told Wynter, nodding at the eighteen-year-old that was currently trying to fit the entire cornish hen in his mouth. "He's eaten some of everything and he's fine."

"Who's to say you poisoned everything?"

"Choose a random spring roll," Red instructed, holding out the plate. "And I'll eat it."

Wynter thought hard. If he was fast enough, or if he could distract everybody at the table, he could probably poison the food himself with the assortment of deadly plant powders he kept in pouches on his bracelets and necklace. But that was a big if. And that technique could backfire and poison someone else...like himself, once the inevitable struck and he forgot he had snuck cassava into the dinner. Cold yellow eyes met deep blue ones, and both boys flicked their gaze back down to the plate, minds clearly moving a mile a minute (though only one mind was going in the right direction...and it certainly wasn't Wynter's) and tension surprisingly high for such a trivial matter. (It wasn't as if breakfast had been poisoned. Had that been the case, Wynter would have undoubtedly successfully murdered something or someone by now.)

That left the second most obvious option, lying ("Oh," Wynter would claim, "then you just poisoned another one")...or did it?

Somebody, Wynter Towhee noted, had spent a great deal of time in adorning the dining table with what was quite possibly the deadliest flower arrangement he'd seen in his life. A bundle of stunning clematises made up the centerpiece, surrounded by bunches of belladonna, water hemlock, nerium oleander, and young sprigs of larkspur, which were further complimented by the odd rhubarb leaf, miniature branches of elephant ear, and stalks of rosary peas. The Khan boy grinned. "That one," he began to say, _accidentally_ flinging his pointing arm a _bit_ too wide and knocking the vase over, breaking the delicate glass and causing the mini floral arsenal to open fire on to the food, brightly colored powders and liquids seeping through the rolls and sticky leaves and petals clinging to pretty much everything. Toxic pollen and nectar swam about the plate in clumps.

Wynter suppressed a smile.

Terra's jaw dropped. "You idiot sonofa_potato_!" she screeched as she stumbled back in through the door, her rangy, slightly mangy wolf-dog trotting along behind her with wide eyes, hunched shoulders, and flat, trembling ears. A sharp metal stick flew from her hands to a spot on the table an inch or two away from Wynter's left hand, and a second one pierced his shoulder, where it lay embedded and quivering. "Those are poisonous!" she went on as she fumbled at her pouch necklace and tried to both approach and avoid the spillage of plant poisons at the same time. "And you should know that, Towhee; your plant smarts are, like, the best in the tribe!"

"I am so sorry," lied Wynter with conviction, pressing a hand to his mouth. "Accident, total accident, I swear. I've always been clumsy."

"Not this clumsy," protested Terra, finally undoing the knots on her little deerskin pouch. She began shaking out its contents (a berry-pink powder with little green and white flecks) over the mess and instantly the water began clumping together and forming a thick, jellylike substance. Wynter's brain went _click!_ as he recognized the powder: it was a mixture of dried-out boar bone marrow, agar, and various berry or flower flavorings; sometimes the elders would mix it with water and give the jellies the powder'd produce to children on their sickbeds as a kind of get-well treat. Glóthach, they called it. Gelatin, or something like that, in English. When the venom had nearly solidified, Terra seized a broad knife, scraped the glóthach off the table, and dumped it in the trash bin.

"This is awful hypocritical comin' from me," sighed the petite girl, "but can we please stop killing each other? Please? Just for today?"

"I agree." Sarid said, then returning to the cornish hen he was devouring.

"I didn't try to kill anyone." Red told them. "Sarid and Wynter did...but no one's poisoning the food _I_ cook! I make it for people to enjoy and feed them, not kill."

Dunal attacked the food on the table the instant she smelled it, ramming the front door open with a loud _THUD_ and jumping up onto the table, chewing on the jerky happily. She occasionally ripped it apart messily. She dropped a piece that she hadn't touched next to Red as an offering, then stole some of the Cornish hen from Sarid and hid under the table to eat it. Her tail stuck out and shivered as she jerked apart the meat.

Two minutes later she reappeared on the table. She was sniffing around for something else to eat.

_No fishies?_ She asked Red, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

Sarid blasted Dunal with water for stealing his food. Then he blasted her again. And a third time. She would learn manners, and not to steal the only good food Sarid had eaten in goodness knew how long. After that, he got another cornish hen, and began eating it.

"Terra can't have fish, remember?" Red told her, then pointing at Wynter. "If I had made any, he'd probably use it against her or something...but, I do have to make more spring rolls now..."

"I'd never!" Wynter objected. "That's such a messy assassination."

Terra gave Red a lips-compressed head tilt of assent, glared daggers at Wynter, and stormed off in a huff, food untouched (which was a shame, because Terra rather liked the look of the dried meat strips).

Sarid finished his second hen, then moved to his spring rolls, then onigiris, fried rice, liver and leeks, eating all his food. After that, he rinsed his dishes, then left the kitchen, going to his room, shutting the door and the wooden sliding doors.

Red stayed in the kitchen, making more spring rolls, making sure to keep them away from Wynter.

Dunal screamed bloody murder for the next ten minutes as the water burned her scales. She jumped off from the table, ran to her rock, and melted it so she could stop the agonizing process of the water chewing up her sensitive inner layer of skin. Once she was dry and regenerating her new layer of scales, she went back inside and bit Sarid's ankle just to get even with him.

She then ran away to avoid another water blast. Darting under the couch, Dunal licked something she had taken from the table in contempt, no longer worrying about anything other than the delicious thing before her. She didn't even know what it was, but it tasted good. She wasn't feeling sick, either, so it was all she ever dreamed of.

Sarid lifted the couch and blasted her once, then picked her up and set her outside his room, shutting his door. He locked his doors, then went to take a bath.

She screamed again, slashing as much as she could until Sarid put her down. The instant her claws touched the floor, she raced down the hallway and knocked over something. She had no intention of finding out what.

Now back at the table, she waited, obediently sitting on a chair and waiting for the spring rolls to finish. Drool dripped from a toothy maw as she waited for food once again.

"Done!" Red declared, then setting a plate of spring rolls on the table.

Dunal drooled and watched as he set them down.

* * *

Terra sighed as she looked in through the windows to the kitchen, doing her best to block out the noise of the idiots. She'd honestly never seen anything like it. They kind of disturbed her.

Red noticed Terra standing, and went over to her.

"You're sure you don't want anything to eat?" Red asked. "I can make something you like, if you want."

Dunal whined and pawed at the plate.

Terra blinked. "Hmm?" she asked, so wrapped up in her thoughts she forgot to be mean. "I'm good, thanks. Had a big lunch."

She hadn't eaten since the morning of the day she ran away. She'd no idea why she was pretending.

Dunal snorted and stole one from the plate, downing it in one bite.

Terra wrinkled her nose and started walking towards the fence of the yard. _Life is gonna suck from here on end, _she thought. _Really, really suck._

* * *

**A/N: So much for this being shorter, right?**

**Oh, readers, I _am_ sorry. It's hard though, when there are three epic writers (and one mediocre one, aka a reegreeg) with so much to say and hypothetically limitless space. We get carried away, y'know?**

**Y'know what else you know? We get less carried away when you review. Yeah. It's scientifically proven and everything.**


End file.
